Frank Lucente grew up in a small town in West Virginia. As a young boy, Frank often enjoyed spicy chili dogs at the town hot dog stand. Even as he grew older and moved away, Frank would always stop in for a hotdog on his visits home. Years later, the town stand closed and Frank was forced to look elsewhere to satisy his craving. He went to see the owner of the old stand to convince him to pass on the recipe. But the owner refused saying he would "take it to the grave".  Denied, Frank soon discovered that the oringinal recipe for the chili sauce belonged to an elderly worman still living in his hometown. For years she had been cooking up the sauce and selling it at her chruch bazaar. According to her, the stand owner had changed the recipe over the years but the woman gladly provided the original recipe.  Frank, recruited his business partner and good friend Rocco Muriale to help invent an even better chili sauce recipe. The chef at the popular Rocco's Resturante, Rocco spent several months cooking up batches of chili sauce. After six months, he had the perfect recipe! In 1983 wanting to share the delicious invention with the public, Frank and Rocco opened the first Sam's Hotdog Stand in Huntington, West Virginia....ending the search for the perfect hot dog.